Data from: More is less: net gain in species richness, but biotic homogenization over 140 years
While biodiversity loss continues globally, assessments of regional and local change over time have been equivocal. Here, we assess changes in plant species richness and beta diversity over 140 years at the level of regions within a country. Using 19th‐century flora censuses for 14 Danish regions as...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | English |
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Dryad
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qv3811j http://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.qv3811j |
| Summary: | While biodiversity loss continues globally, assessments of regional and local change over time have been equivocal. Here, we assess changes in plant species richness and beta diversity over 140 years at the level of regions within a country. Using 19th‐century flora censuses for 14 Danish regions as a baseline, we overcome previous criticisms concerning short time series and neglect of completely altered habitats. We find that species composition has changed dramatically and directionally across all regions. Substantial species losses were more than offset by large gains, resulting in a net increase in species richness in all regions. The occupancy of initially widespread species increased, while initially rare species lost terrain. These changes were accompanied by strong biotic homogenization; i.e. regions are more similar now than they were 140 years ago. Species declining in Denmark were found to be in similar decline all over Northern Europe. : Data - More is Less - Nielsen et al - Ecol Lett 2019Data on 1958 plant species from Denmark. Historical data (1857 to 1883) and present data (2012) from the same regions. Data contains two data-files, one with presence-absence data from 14 Danish regions and one with regional abundance data from 10 Danish regions (for calculations and precausions relating to abundance, please see App. 2 of publication). The presence absence data file also includes data on whether species are native or exotic to Denmark.Nielsenetal_2019.xlsx |
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